Despite no less than 32 bikes in the field and plenty of sand remaining off the racing line at the desert circuit, times continued to tumble and fluctuate across the course of the 40 minutes, as the fight for pole quickly transpired to be between the eventual front row men plus Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Jonas Folger and Mahindra Racing’s Miguel Oliveira.

Returning to the top with two minutes to go, Salom navigated his way around slower runners to go even quicker as the chequered flag flew, sealing pole with a lap time of 2’07.229. This edged out Viñales by a tenth of a second, as he fought through the pain following his testing accident at Jerez, from which the stitches had been removed only two days ago.

Rins had been fastest for much of the session and also sealed his front row spot with a last-gasp effort, moving ahead of Folger as Oliveira returned to the second row and fifth place. Sixth on the grid will be CIP Moto3’s Alan Techer, with the Frenchman having beaten Redox RW Racing GP’s Jakub Kornfeil who heads the third row. Efrén Vázquez and Alex Márquez complete Row 3 for Mahindra and Estrella Galicia respectively, with Australia’s Arthur Sissis rounding out the top ten for Red Bull KTM Ajo.

Further down the field female rider Ana Carrasco impressed by sealing 23rd spot for Team Calvo, despite having missed out on track time for much of the weekend so far due to technical issues.